Hilltop N EWS F ROM C A M P US
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Keenan Thygesen ’22
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Dogs live on campus with faculty members
BRICKS AND MORTAR
Moving History Tucked between Rowe Hall and the Miller Bicentennial Hall parking lot sits a red, timber-frame barn. Today, many students pass the barn unaware of the stories and history it holds under its towering wooden beams. The oldest building in Meriden, the Kimball Barn once housed sheep belonging to KUA founder Daniel Kimball. Scores of alumni will fondly remember time spent with friends when it was the Snack Bar. This winter, the Kimball Barn will be dismantled and take a trip down Main Street, where it will be reassembled near the lower athletic field complex on Route 120 at the site of the former Penniman House. Once completed, the barn will house a heritage center and function space, along with services for athletic visitors and teams. Do you have memories of the Snack Bar from your time on The Hilltop? Share them at tmckeon@kua.org. K 12
KIMBALL UNION MAGAZINE
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Students took the AMC Math test in November
In September, as most Kimball Union students were heading east to Meriden, Keenan Thygesen ’22 was driving west from his family’s home in Tunbridge, Vermont, to Madison, Wisconsin, accompanied by a family, friends, and seven cows. Breaks for food and gas during the 20-hour journey were balanced with two rest stops for milking. The happy caravan was headed to World Dairy Expo, where Thygesen was showing his cows in the annual “Super Bowl” of cow shows. Growing up on his family’s dairy farm, Thygesen developed a passion for working with dairy cows early in life and has been an active member of 4H since age 8. His parents have since sold their milking herd, but they maintain a small group of show animals that includes Holsteins, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Guernseys, and Ayrshires. “There are personality and color differences between the breeds,” he says. “Right now, we have 16 total dairy animals and a couple beef cows.” Thygesen participates in local county fairs and statewide 4H shows throughout the summer, then gears up for the national shows in the fall. To prepare, he spends considerable time on what he calls “cow comfort.” He exercises the animals, feeds them a specific diet, and teaches them how to lead by walking them up and down the road on halters. At shows, he wakes between 3:30 and 5 a.m. to complete chores and get his cows ready by “fitting” them. “Fitting is basically giving cows fancy haircuts to make them look great,” he explains. Out in Wisconsin, his hard work paid off: Thygesen finished fourth in the senior male division of the national fitting contest, satisfying his long-term goal to get into the top five. Later that week, his Ayrshire summer yearling was 15th in her class and fifth in the junior show, while his milking yearling Holstein was fifth in the international junior show. He also led a spring calf named Trinket, which he bought this year, who won her class and went on to earn reserve junior champion honors in the international Guernsey junior show. Thygesen hopes to major in agricultural business management at either the University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, or Penn State—schools that will expose him to other agricultural practices. “I like my small-town feel, but there’s so much more out there and so many other aspects to agriculture,” he says. “I want to see cornfields until you can’t see the end.” K
